FAQs for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant (T32)

NIBIB supports predoctoral and postdoctoral research training; but will not accept applications requesting support for combined pre- and postdoctoral training. Applicants are allowed to submit concurrent applications for separate predoctoral and postdoctoral programs. Short-term training positions are not allowed for NIBIB T32 training programs.

At the predoctoral level, NIBIB encourages early-stage support where doctoral candidates are supported for 2 years while completing coursework, participating in program activities, doing lab rotations, engaging in preliminary work and deciding on their thesis topic. Ideally, the trainee should move on to support from the research grants of their mentor in the later phases of their thesis research. NIBIB expects each trainee to receive precisely 2 years of support. However, depending on the structure of the program and the needs of the student, support may be provided at a different stage for a different duration with prior approval from Program Director.

At the postdoctoral level, NIBIB encourages support of early-stage postdoctoral research training when individuals are most likely to benefit from the structure and programmatic activities of an institutional training program. Trainees are expected to move on to either their own F32, K99 funding, or to the research grants of their mentors. Postdoctoral programs may support either PhD or MD degree holders. NIBIB normally expects a 2-year training experience for postdoctoral PhD trainees but allows a 1-year training experience for medical residents and clinical fellows.

Awards will typically be made for a maximum of 6 trainee slots per year, although an exception may be made in rare circumstances. Those interested in applying for more than 6 slots of support per year are advised to contact Dr. Zeynep Erim before preparing their application. Applications with budgets exceeding $500,000 must request prior approval, even if the total award is expected to be for a lesser amount due to adjustments due to tuitions caps, etc.

NIBIB accepts T32 institutional training grant applications once a year, on the May 25 due date. This due date applies to new, resubmission and renewal applications.

PIs considering T32 applications should send a 1-2 page white paper describing their proposed training program. In addition to any unique aspects of the program the applicant wishes to highlight, this white paper should describe

• the PI(s) with their background, expertise and history of mentoring and managing programs of this kind and history of funding; if considering a multi-PI application, the respective contributions of each PI to the program,
• the pool of applicants and the department(s) they will be drawn from,
• the expected number of trainees that would be eligible for and interested in the program,
• the available mentors with their background, expertise relevant to the proposed program funding history,
• unique components of the proposed program such as dedicated coursework, bootcamps, peer-mentoring, etc. At what point in a trainee’s career are these activities proposed to take place?
• any special resources available for this program at the institution,
• the added benefits the trainees in the proposed T32 will have as compared to their peers in the same PhD program (or their postdoc peers if a postdoctoral application)?
• the hypothetical successful graduate from the program— what type of position do they obtain?

After the review of your white paper, a video or phone appointment can be scheduled to discuss the proposed program.

T32 applicants should refer to NOT-19-056 for instructions on properly including information on Harassment and Discrimination Protections at their institutions.

Renewal applications from current grantees are ideally submitted the year prior to expiration of the current award cycle. More explicitly, the renewal application should be submitted on May 25 of the year preceding the year in which the current grant expires.

NIBIB typically will only consider renewal applications submitted for the appropriate fiscal year. Applications for earlier receipt dates are discouraged. “Early" T32 renewal applications, even if reviewed favorably, cannot be funded before the active grant ends and will need to be resubmitted in the appropriate year. While technically allowed, these increase the burden of review. Therefore, NIBIB strongly discourages these.

PIs should critically evaluate their programs and propose to develop and/or implement new or innovative approaches to training and mentoring, while still preserving the best elements of their current programs. Trainee outcomes from the previous period of support should be clearly described and summarized in the appropriate tables. The new approaches and activities being proposed should be highlighted in the application.

If a competitive renewal application is submitted within 120 days of the end of the period of performance, an Interim RPPR must be submitted within 120 days of the end of the period of performance. Otherwise, a Final RPPR must be submitted within 120 days of the end of the period of performance. Instructions for preparing an Interim or Final RPPR are at: NIH and Other PHS Agency Research Performance Progress (PDF).

Pre- and post-doctoral research training programs supported by the NIBIB are expected to prepare their trainees for research careers in areas central to NIBIB's mission.  The research undertaken by the trainees of the program must fall under one or more of the scientific programs supported by the NIBIB and described under Division of Applied Science and Technology (Bioimaging), Division of Discovery Science and Technology (Bioengineering), or Division of Health Informatics Technologies (Informatics)

Investigators generally interpret research projects' fit to NIBIB's scientific program areas too broadly. In fact, what an investigator assumes to fit NIBIB's programs can have a better fit to another IC. In that case, such work should be supported by that other IC and not NIBIB. In order to verify fit, T32 PIs can either:

• Contact the Program Director of the T32 with the proposed project details to confirm fit to NIBIB's programs, or
• Use NIH's Matchmaker tool. Enter the project abstract into the box and click on the Similar Projects button. If NIBIB comes up among the top 3 institutes, this can be initerpreted as the project having a good fit to NIBIB. If not, this is an indication that the project does not fit NIBIB's research focus. Therefore, a trainee working on the project is not appropriate to be supported under a NIBIB T32.

Yes. At the end of the support year, if the RPPR includes trainees whose projects are deemed to be outside of NIBIB's scientific program areas, and the PI cannot demonstrate NIBIB relevance by either a message indicating approval from the Program Director or a top-three-IC fit from Matchmaker based on the project abstract as directed above, costs used for the support of those trainees may be deemed unallowable as charges to the grant and the budget could be reduced accordingly. 

Instructions for preparing RPPRs can be found in the NIH and Other PHS Agency Research Performance Progress (PDF). Please refer to section 7.4 Training Awards.

PIs are encouraged to read the complete set of instructions before preparing their report. The following sections are especially important for the evaluation of the performance of the program:

1. A paragraph for each trainee/scholar supported by the award describing activities and progress during the reporting period. Include the following information for each trainee/scholar, as applicable:

a) Degrees working toward or received
b) Mentor(s)
c) Description of the trainee/scholar’s research project and progress
d) Career development related activities (e.g., individualized coursework or workshops attended)
e) Conference presentations
f) A description of the trainee/scholar’s role in any planned or published papers resulting from research conducted while supported by this award (e.g., designed or conducted experiment, analyzed data, drafted paper)

Note that full citations of all publications arising from work conducted while the trainee/scholar was supported by the award should not be reported here, as they will be collected in Section C.1.

g) Honors, awards, fellowships, and any support received during the period of training (note that support before and after the appointment is reported on Table 8 and should not be reported here)

This description should be sufficient to allow evaluation of the appointees’ progress towards the goals of the training grant.

Indicate whether the institution uses Individual Development Plans (IDPs), and if so, describe how they were used to help manage the training and career development of the trainees/scholars.

For Predoctoral programs:

2. Include Table 8A (Doc)--Fill out Parts I, II, and IV only. Follow Instructions for RPPR Predoctoral Training (PDF). Please read these and study the examples provided before filling out the table. The detailed instructions are not repeated here, but please note the following:

1. Parts I and II:

a) Summary of support: Please make sure you account for each year of training, indicating one of the options for each of Source of Support and Type of Support.
b) Terminal degree refers to the degree(s) obtained at the completion of the program. For trainees currently in the program, indicate “In training”.
c) Initial Position, Current Position and Subsequent Grants columns are to be filled out for trainees who completed or left the program.  If information is not available, report “unknown.” For each position, indicate the workforce sector (i.e., academia, government, for-profit, nonprofit, other) and principal activity (i.e., primarily research, primarily teaching, primarily clinical, research-related, further training, unrelated to research). Research-related positions generally require a doctoral degree and may include activities such as administering research or higher education programs, science policy, or technology transfer.

2. Part IV (skip this part if your program does not have any trainees that completed the Ph.D.):

a) Column 1 (Only for programs that have received support for 10 years or more): Consider the group of trainees that entered 10 years ago and received support from this training grant at some point during graduate school. Enter the percentage of this group of trainees who received PhDs or equivalent research doctoral degrees
b) Column 2 (Only for programs with trainees that completed the PhD): Enter the average time to degree for all trainees appointed to this training grant completing PhDs in the last ten years, calculated to one decimal place (e.g., 5.5 years).

For Postdoctoral programs:

3. Include Table 8C (Doc)--Fill out Parts I and II only. Follow Instructions for RPPR Postdoctoral Training (PDF). Please read these and study the examples provided before filling out the table. The detailed instructions are not repeated here, but please note the following:

1. Parts I and II:

a) Summary of support: Please make sure you account for each year of training, indicating one of the options for each of Source of Support and Type of Support.
b) Degree(s) resulting from Postdoctoral training refers to any degree obtained at the completion of the program, if applicable. For trainees currently in the program, indicate “In training”.
c) Initial Position, Current Position and Subsequent Grants columns are to be filled out for trainees who completed or left the program. If information is not available, report “unknown.” For each position, indicate the workforce sector (i.e., academia, government, for-profit, nonprofit, other) and principal activity (i.e., primarily research, primarily teaching, primarily clinical, research-related, further training, unrelated to research). Research-related positions generally require a doctoral degree and may include activities such as administering research or higher education programs, science policy, or technology transfer.

Compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy

Compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy must be demonstrated in RPPRS as well as competing renewal applications. Details of the policy and instructions on how to comply and demonstrate compliance can be found at https://publicaccess.nih.gov/.

Competing or non-competing awards will not be issued without demonstration of compliance with the policy.

Compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy must be demonstrated in RPPRs as well as competing renewal applications. Details of the policy and instructions on how to comply and demonstrate compliance can be found at https://publicaccess.nih.gov/.

Competing or non-competing awards will not be issued without demonstration of compliance with the policy.